Scott: ACA 'devastating for patients'

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has vowed not to implement provisions of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, dissed the law on Monday as “devastating for patients.”

“Government health care programs, everywhere in the world, do three things: They promise you the world, they say, ‘Oh, we’re going to cover everything.’ Then what they do is they run out of money and they underpay hospitals, doctors and guess what happens? They don’t want to take care of you,” the Republican governor said on Fox News. “If you care about patients, this is devastating for you.”

Story Continued Below

After the Supreme Court upheld the health care law last week by stating that Congress has the power to require almost all Americans to buy health insurance through its authority to tax, Scott announced that his state would “ legally opt out” of spending taxpayer dollars to implement an expansion of the Medicaid program as well as building insurance exchanges.

Scott said Monday that the Affordable Care Act would actually make it “more difficult” for Americans to get access to health care coverage. He also elaborated on his refusal to allow Florida to take part in building insurance exchanges, which he has previously warned would result in higher insurance premium costs paid for with taxpayer dollars.

“They don’t work. If it was such a great idea, the private sector would do it,” he said. “You’re going to pay more with these exchanges. They don’t work. Government involvement in health care has only caused health care costs to go up, and it’s rationing care. It’s devastating for patients.”